Alaska 2019: Wrangell-St. Elias National park

Today we went exploring in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. The park's extreme high point is Mount Saint Elias at 18,008 feet, the second tallest mountain in both the United States and Canada. Mount Wrangell is an active volcano, one of several volcanoes in the western Wrangell Mountains. The park also several large glaciers. The park and preserve form the largest area managed by the National Park Service with a total of 13,175,799 acres, an area that could encapsulate a total of six Yellowstone Parks.

There was only one road into the park and it was 60 miles of mostly a gravel surface. We left the camper parked at a ranger station in Chitina and only took the truck into the park. As I entered the park, I immediately saw a moose; however, I wasn't quick enough to get a picture. Other interest points were the Kuskulana Bridge. It was built in 1910 for the railroad and it spans 525 feet above the Kuskulana which is 238 feet below. Another interesting area was where I drove over the Gilahina River. Above the river was a very old railroad trestle that was still standing. The road stopped in McCarthy. At the end of the road was a footbridge that led to Kennicott and Root Glaciers.

At the end of the day we decided to drive to Valdez. Coming into Valdez was amazing. We went through the Thompson Pass and some amazing mountains. We arrived at about 8:00 and stopped at the first campground we found.